Laser soldering for attaching multiple components may be used in a variety of systems, including optical systems, electronic systems and micro-mechanical systems, including micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) and micro-opto-electro-mechanical systems (MOEMS). For example, laser soldering may be used to securely position an optical fiber to couple the optical output from a laser diode into the optical fiber during the construction of laser transmitters. Typically, fiber-coupled diode lasers are packaged in metal butterfly packages, which may be gold plated. The fiber is held in alignment with the laser using a device attaching element such as epoxy, a laser weld, or a solder attachment with or without a ferrule. Epoxy attachment is low cost but may have too much thermal expansion for high precision attachments. Furthermore, it may not be reliable over a long period of time due to outgassing and alignment shifts arising from aging and temperature cycling. Laser weld techniques are reliable but use costly ferrulization of the fiber and specially designed mounts or clips to allow weld attachment of the ferrulized fiber. The mounts and clips tend to be relatively large, and may creep over time.
Solder attachment techniques, which have become prevalent in the art, may be more reliable and less costly. Laser soldering techniques also reduce the chance of static discharge that may potentially damage the components. Laser soldering techniques however, require relatively high amounts of laser power. A significant amount of the laser's power may be lost or wasted due to the highly reflective nature of the solder surface. The large amount of power used by the laser in a typical laser coupling process makes such a process relatively expensive compared, for example, with an epoxy coupling process. This cost may be reduced by supplying an additional low cost energy source near the solder such as an inductive heating source, a direct heater or a thermo-electric cooler (TEC). These low cost energy sources however, do not enable specific target soldering within a small space without affecting the surrounding area. The additional equipment may also add complexity to the system. Further, the additional equipment may be expensive.